SANDY, Utah — With the introduction of Jurgen Klinsmann as the new coach of the US men’s national team comes a renewed opportunity for Real Salt Lake midfielder Kyle Beckerman to contribute at the highest level of the sport in this country. And he’s not taking it lightly.
“I’m always excited to have the chance to represent my country,” said the 29-year-old Beckerman, who was named to the 22-man roster for the US’ match against Mexico next week in Philadelphia. “It’s a great opportunity to get myself familiar with the new staff, and hopefully put myself in a better position with the team.”
Beckerman was part of the prestigious “Project 2010,” a blueprint put together by US Soccer in the late 1990s with the goal of fielding a competitive US entry into the 2010 World Cup. As a participant, Beckerman was involved in intensive soccer training at Bradenton Academy alongside future World Cup participants such as Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley and Oguchi Onyewu.
But despite a successful career in MLS, Beckerman has received only a brief shot with the “A-squad” of the US team. He was part of both the 2009 Gold Cup squad and the ill-fated 2007 Copa América under former coach Bob Bradley, but both of those teams were littered with second-tier players while the country’s top squad took a break from international action.
“I feel personally, and probably completely biased, that he’s been left out of the national team for far too long,” Real Salt Lake head coach Jason Kreis said. “He’s been an outstanding performer in this league for the last couple of years. And he’s been instrumental in all of our success at Real Salt Lake. Those types of players are the ones that I think should be in and around the national team.”
Some have speculated that Klinsmann could go with a different tactical approach than Bradley, perhaps even a diamond midfield, a situation that would be perfect and familiar structure for Beckerman.
The squad picked to face Mexico looks to be heavy in the midfield, perhaps an indication that a 4-5-1 is more likely, but Klinsmann is undoubtedly looking around in his tool chest to see what components he has and how they can fit together as he comes up with a tactical philosophy for his regime.
So does this upcoming invitation to participate against Mexico mean that Beckerman could become a fixture on the national team in future years?
“I think absolutely it could be,” Kreis said. “I think that all of these opportunities are what players make of them. And so hopefully Kyle will go into that situation with a fresh outlook. I know he felt a little bit dogged by the last situation that was there. Hopefully this is a fresh outlook and he can take a lot of energy and positive mentality into that opportunity.”
